Diophantine triples and \(K3\) surfaces (Q2116741)

A Diophantine \(m\)-tuple with elements in the field \(K\) is a set of \(m\) elements \(\{a_{1},a_{2},\ldots ,a_{m}\}\) in \(K\) such that \(a_{i}a_{j}+1\) is a square in \(K\) for any \(1\leq i<j\leq m\). The name comes from Diophantus of Alexandria, who found the rational Diophantine quadruple \(\left\{{\frac 1{16}},{\frac {33}{16}},{\frac {17}4},{\frac {105}{16}}\right\}\) in \(\mathbb{Q}\). Suppose \((a_{1},a_{2},a_{3})\) is an ordered Diophantine triple in \(K\). Then, there exist \(r,s,t\in K\) such that \(a_{1}a_{2}+1=r^{2}\), \(a_{2}a_{3}+1=s^{2}\) and \(a_{3}a_{1}+1=t^{2}\). This implies that \((x,y,z,k)=(r,s,t,a_{1}a_{2}a_{3})\) is a \(K\)-rational point of the affine variety \(X:(x^2 - 1)(y^2 - 1)(z^2 - 1) = k^2\) over \(K\). Conversely, if \((x,y,z,k)\) is a \(K\)-rational point in \(X\) with \(x,y,z\neq \pm1\), we obtain an ordered Diophantine triple \(\bigl(k/(y^{2}-1),k/(z^{2}-1),k/(x^{2}-1)\bigr)\). In the paper under review the authors study the geometry of the variety \(X\) and derive informations about the arithmetic of Diophantine triples. First, the authors prove that the projective closure \(\overline{X}\) of \(X\) is binational to \(\mathbb{P}^{3}\), and give a rational parametrization of the set of Diophantine triples. Next, they calculate the formula for \(\#\overline{X}(\mathbb{F}_{p})\) in two ways using two different fibrations of the threefold \(X\), \(\pi_{rat}:(x,y,z,k)\mapsto z\) and \(\pi_{K3}:(x,y,z,k)\mapsto k\). The fibers of the first fibration \(\pi_{rat}\) are rational elliptic surfaces and from it they derive the formula for the number of points on \(\overline{X}\) over an arbitrary finite field \(\mathbb{F}_q\). Using it, they reprove the formula for the number of Diophantine triples over \(\mathbb{F}_q\) by Andrej Dujella and Matija Kazalicki in ``Diophantine m-tuples in finite fields and modular forms'', Res. Number Theory 7 (2021) 3. For \(p\) an odd prime and \(k \in \mathbb{F}_p^{\times}\), they find a correspondence between the fiber \(X_{k}\) of the second fibration \(\pi_{K3}\) and a product abelian surface \(E_k \times E_k\) where \(E_k\) is the elliptic curve given by \(y^2 = x(x^{2} + 2(k^2 + 1)^{2}x + k^2(k^2 + 1)^{3})\). They then derive an explicit formula for \(N(p, k)\), the number of Diophantine triples over \(\mathbb{F}_p\) with the product of elements equal to \(k\). From the interplay of the two fibrations of \(\overline{X}\), they derive the formula for the second moment of the elliptic surface \(E_k\) (and thus confirming Steven J. Miller's Bias conjecture in this particular case) which they describe in terms of Fourier coefficients of a rational newform generating \(S_4( \Gamma_0(8))\).